Gillian Creese

Gender Equity or Masculine Privilege? Union Strategies and Economic Restructuring in a White Collar Union'

The Canadian labour movement has undergone dramatic change in the last two decades with the decline of traditional unionized industries and the feminization of membership. Specific womens issues have been added to collective bargaining agendas and women have made inroads into leadership positions, yet traditional union practices still reflect a masculine viewpoint that disadvantages women members. This paper examines the experience of one white collar union struggling for employment security in a period of economic restructuring. Regardless of a growing commitment to gender equity issues during the 1980s, pursuit of traditional approaches to job security disadvantaged many women members.

Gender, Generation and Identities in Vancouver’s African Diaspora

This paper explores multi-generational shifts in identities and community building among the ‘new’ African diaspora in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing on interviews with adult migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, teen migrants, and second-generation adults, the paper highlights how diasporic identities are gendered, racialized, and place-based. The first generation struggles to remain African, with men focused more on maintaining links with the homeland and women engaged more with strategies of homemaking in Canada. In contrast, second-generation young men develop stronger affinities with the nearby African-American diaspora, while their sisters are more likely to identify with the local African-Canadian community and, like their parents, to dis-identify with the larger African-American diaspora.

“Where are you from?” Racialization, belonging and identity among second-generation African-Canadians

ABSTRACT This paper explores how the query “where are you from” is central to processes of racialization in Canada, and how such encounters shape identities and belonging among second-generation African-Canadians. The study is based on qualitative interviews with young men and women whose parents migrated from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, who are racialized as black, and who grew up in metro Vancouver. Although the second-generation embodies the usual markings of local accents and place-based knowledge, other residents frequently question their origins in the belief they cannot be local. These interactions make it clear that the presence of a black body is seen as out of place rather than at home and shapes negotiation of identities as Canadian, African and black.